A Beginner's Guide to Seasonality

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A Beginner's Guide to Seasonality

Has your daughter ever been afraid to change something in her motion because it will mess up her accuracy for the upcoming game? Well, she should be concerned because there are only certain times of the year when she should or should not be majorly altering her fundamentals. Last week we talked about how to break down practices and seasonality. This week I will give you examples of fun games and challenges to include in your seasonal practice.

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The Advanced Guide to Lessons: How to Get the Most Out of Your Time

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The Advanced Guide to Lessons: How to Get the Most Out of Your Time

Contrary to popular belief, accuracy is only a byproduct of a lesson. The real goal of a lesson is to "build a repeatable motion." One is part of the process, and one is the actual outcome. As you know, you can't control an outcome, but only your effort that goes into it. How, then, can you best use your time in lessons to achieve both your process goal (build a repeatable motion) and your outcome goal (throw more strikes)? If you feel like there have been times where you haven't gathered enough takeaways from your lesson and aren't sure what to work on, read ahead.

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How To Sell Hard Work To A Skeptic

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How To Sell Hard Work To A Skeptic

For experienced pitchers, year-round training should be divided into sections including the off-season, pre-season and in-season. They each serve their specific purpose. In the offseason (October through December), experienced athletes should learn new movement pitches and make major changes to mechanics if necessary. These two things affect accuracy, so the offseason is the best time to adjust.

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What's Holding Back Your Movement Pitches?

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What's Holding Back Your Movement Pitches?

Making the ball move is one thing, but making it move with late break is a whole separate animal. “Late break” means that your pitch travels straight and then changes direction very close to the hitter. About ten feet is about the standard for excellence.

You need to be able to know the truth. Was that lake break? Or was it gradually moving to one side? You don’t want to wait to find out in a game. If you haven’t seen too many pitches that actually break before, you might be judging incorrectly. You need feedback.

If your breaking balls gradually move from one side to the other, rather than late break, it is because one of the following problems:

1. Not enough rotation on your ball
2. Incorrect axis - the ball is not rotating on the correct plane
3. Incorrect body position/release point - your arm trajectory is going the opposite way of the intended ball movement.

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